STORIES FROM VIRGIL
BY THE
REV. ALFRED J. CHURCH, M.A.
_Head Master of King Edward's School, Retford_;
AUTHOR OF "STORIES FROM HOMER."
WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM PINELLI'S DESIGNS
_FIFTH THOUSAND._
SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY, FLEET STREET
LONDON. MDCCCLXXIX.
(_All Rights Reserved._)
UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS,
CHILWORTH AND LONDON.
[Illustration: THE FLIGHT FROM TROY.]
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE HORSE OF WOOD 1
II. THE SACK OF TROY 10
III. ÆNEAS AND ANCHISES 20
IV. POLYDORUS--DELOS--CRETE--THE HARPIES 29
V. KING HELENUS--THE CYCLOPS 39
VI. THE SHIPWRECK 52
VII. CARTHAGE 58
VIII. DIDO 68
IX. THE LOVE AND DEATH OF DIDO 78
X. THE FUNERAL GAMES OF ANCHISES 96
XI. THE FUNERAL GAMES (CONTINUED) 107
XII. THE BURNING OF THE SHIPS--THE VOYAGE TO ITALY 115
XIII. THE SIBYL 124
XIV. THE DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD 132
XV. KING LATINUS 149
XVI. THE WRATH OF JUNO 159
XVII. THE GATHERING OF THE CHIEFS 167
XVIII. KING EVANDER 173
XIX. THE ARMS OF ÆNEAS 181
XX. NISUS AND EURYALUS 190
XXI. THE BATTLE AT THE CAMP 202
XXII. THE BATTLE ON THE SHORE 210
XXIII. THE COUNCIL 226
XXIV. THE BATTLE AT THE CITY 235
XXV. THE BROKEN TREATY 245
XXVI. THE DEATH OF TURNUS 253
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE FLIGHT FROM TROY _Frontispiece_
LAOCOÖN 8
ÆNEAS AND HELEN 20
ÆNEAS AND THE SHADE OF CREÜSA 26
THE HARPIES 36
JUNO AND ÆOLUS 54
NEPTUNE STILLING THE WAVES 56
DIDO AND THE FALSE ASCANIUS 76
DIDO ON THE FUNERAL PILE 94
ENTELLUS KILLING THE BULL 110
CHARON AND THE GHOSTS 134
CERBERUS 136
ÆNEAS AND THE SHADE OF DIDO 138
THE FURY AT THE FEAST 142
TURNUS OVER THE BODIES OF ALMO AND GALÆSUS 168
ÆNEAS AND TIBER 174
HERCULES AND CACUS 178
VULCAN AND THE CYCLOPÉS 186
IRIS APPEARING TO TURNUS 190
NISUS AND EURYALUS 198
THE MOTHER OF EURYALUS RECEIVING THE NEWS OF HIS DEATH 200
ÆNEAS AND THE BODY OF LAUSUS 222
CAMILLA AND THE SON OF AUNUS 240
THE DEATH OF CAMILLA 242
TO THE HONOURED MEMORY
OF
JOHN CONINGTON
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
The favour with which the public received "Stories from Homer" has
encouraged me to deal in the same way with the Æneid. I have found it
a difficult task, and I must ask the indulgence of my readers, who
will certainly miss, not only the freshness and simplicity of the
great Greek epic, but those chief characteristics of Virgil, his
supreme mastery of expression and the splendour of his style. I beg
them to remember that I do not attempt to translate my original, that
while I add nothing (except, in a very few instances, an explanatory
phrase), I am constrained to leave out much; and that what I leave
out, or, at the most, very inadequately render, will often be found to
be that which they have been accustomed most to admire in the
poet,--his brilliant rhetoric, his philosophy, his imagination, and
his pathos. My chief aim has been to represent to English readers the
narrative, the interest of which is, perhaps, scarcely appreciated.
The illustrations (with the exception of the second, which is taken
from a photograph of the antique) have been adapted from a series of
designs, published early in this century, by Pinelli, a Roman artist
(1781-1835), who acquired a considerable reputation among his
countrymen, especially for the power of representing energetic action.
I may be allowed to express my great obligations to the pains and
skill (to which indeed this volume is otherwise much indebted) which
have been used in making these designs available for the present
purpose.
RETFORD,
_September 25, 1878._
STORIES FROM VIRGIL.
CHAPTER I.
THE HORSE OF WOOD.
For ten years King Agamemnon and the men of Greece laid siege to Troy.
But though sentence had gone forth against the city, yet the day of
its fall tarried, because certain of the gods loved it well and
defended it, as Apollo, and Mars, the God of war, and Father Jupiter
himself. Wherefore Minerva put it into the heart of Epeius, Lord of
the Isles, that he should make a cunning device wherewith to take the
city. Now the device was this: he made a great Horse of wood, feigning
it to be a peace offering to Minerva, that the Greeks might have a
safe return to their homes. In the belly of this there hid themselves
certain of the bravest of the chiefs, as Menelaüs, and Ulysses, and
Thoas the Ætolian, and Machaon, the great physician, and Pyrrhus, son
of Achilles (but Achilles himself was dead, slain by Paris, Apollo
helping, even as he was about to take the city), and others also, and
with them Epeius himself. But the rest of the people made as if they
had departed to their homes; only they went not further than Tenedos,
which was an island near to the coast.
Great joy was there in Troy when it was noised abroad that the men of
Greece had departed. The gates were opened, and the people went forth
to see the plain and the camp. And one said to another, as they went,
"Here they set the battle in array, and there were the tents of the
fierce Achilles, and there lay the ships." And some stood and
marvelled at the great peace-offering to Minerva, even the Horse of
wood. And Thymœtes, who was one of the elders of the city, was the
first who advised that it should be brought within the walls and set
in the citadel. But whether he gave this counsel out of a false heart,
or because the Gods would have it so, no man knows. And Capys, and
others with him, said that it should be drowned in water, or burned
with fire, or that men should pierce it and see whether there were
aught within. And the people were divided, some crying one thing and
some another. Then came forward the priest Laocoön, and a great
company with him, crying, "What madness is this? Think ye that the men
of Greece are indeed departed, or that there is any profit in their
gifts? Surely, there are armed men in this mighty Horse; or haply they
have made it that they may look down upon our walls. Touch it not, for
as for these men of Greece, I fear them, even though they bring gifts
in their hands."
And as he spake he cast his great spear at the Horse, so that it
sounded again. But the Gods would not that Troy should be saved.
Meanwhile there came certain shepherds, dragging with them one whose
hands were bound behind his back. He had come forth to them, they
said, of his own accord, when they were in the field. And first the
young men gathered about him mocking him, but when he cried aloud,
"What place is left for me, for the Greeks suffer me not to live, and
the men of Troy cry for vengeance upon me?" they rather pitied him,
and bade him speak, and say whence he came and what he had to tell.
Then the man spake, turning to King Priam: "I will speak the truth,
whatever befall me. My name is Sinon, and I deny not that I am a
Greek. Haply thou hast heard the name of Palamedes, whom the Greeks
slew, but now, being dead, lament; and the cause was that, because he
counselled peace, men falsely accused him of treason. Now, of this
Palamedes I was a poor kinsman, and followed him to Troy. And when he
was dead, through the false witness of Ulysses, I lived in great grief
and trouble, nor could I hold my peace, but sware that if ever I came
back to Argos I would avenge me of him that had done this deed. Then
did Ulysses seek occasion against me, whispering evil things, nor
rested till at the last, Calchas the soothsayer helping him--but what
profit it that I should tell these things? For doubtless ye hold one
Greek to be even as another. Wherefore slay me, and doubtless ye will
do a pleasure to Ulysses and the sons of Atreus."
Then they bade him tell on, and he said,--
"Often would the Greeks have fled to their homes, being weary of the
war, but still the stormy sea hindered them. And when this Horse that
ye see had been built, most of all did the dreadful thunder roll from
the one end of the heaven to the other. Then the Greeks sent one who
should inquire of Apollo; and Apollo answered them thus: 'Men of
Greece, even as ye appeased the winds with blood when ye came to Troy,
so must ye appease them with blood now that ye would go from thence.'
Then did men tremble to think on whom the doom should fall, and
Ulysses, with much clamour, drew forth Calchas the soothsayer into the
midst, and bade him say who it was that the Gods would have as a
sacrifice. Then did many forebode evil for me. Ten days did the
soothsayer keep silence, saying that he would not give any one to
death. But then, for in truth the two had planned the matter
beforehand, he spake, appointing me to die. And to this thing they all
agreed, each being glad to turn to another that which he feared for
himself. But when the day was come, and all things were ready, the
salted meal for the sacrifice and the garlands, lo! I burst my bonds
and fled, and hid myself in the sedges of a pool, waiting till they
should have set sail, if haply that might be. But never shall I see
country, or father, or children again. For doubtless on these will
they take vengeance for my flight. Only do thou, O king, have pity on
me, who have suffered many things, and yet have harmed no man."
And King Priam had pity on him, and bade them loose his bonds, saying,
"Whoever thou art, forget now thy country. Henceforth thou art one of
us. But tell me true: why made they this huge Horse? Who contrived it?
What seek they by it? to please the Gods or to further their siege?"
Then said Sinon, and as he spake he stretched his hands to the sky, "I
call you to witness, ye everlasting fires of heaven, that with good
right I now break my oath of fealty and reveal the secrets of my
countrymen. Listen then, O king. All our hope has ever been in the
help of Minerva. But, from the day when Diomed and Ulysses dared,
having bloody hands, to snatch her image from her holy place in Troy,
her face was turned from us. Well do I remember how the eyes of the
image, well-nigh before they had set it in the camp, blazed with
wrath, and how the salt sweat stood upon its limbs, aye, and how it
thrice leapt from the ground, shaking shield and spear. Then Calchas
told us that we must cross the seas again, and seek at home fresh
omens for our war. And this, indeed, they are doing even now, and will
return anon. Also the soothsayer said, 'Meanwhile ye must make the
likeness of a Horse, to be a peace-offering to Minerva. And take heed
that ye make it huge of bulk, so that the men of Troy may not receive
it into their gates, nor bring it within their walls, and get safety
for themselves thereby. For if,' he said, 'the men of Troy harm this
image at all, they shall surely perish; but if they bring it into
their city, then shall Asia lay siege hereafter to the city of Pelops,
and our children shall suffer the doom which we would fain have
brought on Troy.'"
These words wrought much on the men of Troy, and as they pondered on
them, lo! the Gods sent another marvel to deceive them. For while
Laocoön, the priest of Neptune, was slaying a bull at the altar of
his god, there came two serpents across the sea from Tenedos, whose
heads and necks, whereon were thick manes of hair, were high above the
waves, and many scaly coils trailed behind in the waters. And when
they reached the land they still sped forward. Their eyes were red as
blood and blazed with fire, and their forked tongues hissed loud for
rage. Then all the men of Troy grew pale with fear and fled away, but
these turned not aside this way or that, seeking Laocoön where he
stood. And first they wrapped themselves about his little sons, one
serpent about each, and began to devour them. And when the father
would have given help to his children, having a sword in his hand,
they seized upon himself, and bound him fast with their folds. Twice
they compassed about his body, and twice his neck, lifting their heads
far above him. And all the while he strove to tear them away with his
hands, his priest's garlands dripping with blood. Nor did he cease to
cry horribly aloud, even as a bull bellows when after an ill stroke of
the axe it flees from the altar. But when their work was done, the two
glided to the citadel of Minerva, and hid themselves beneath the
feet and the shield of the goddess. And men said one to another, "Lo!
the priest Laocoön has been judged according to his deeds; for he cast
his spear against this holy thing, and now the Gods have slain him."
Then all cried out together that the Horse of wood must be drawn to
the citadel. Whereupon they opened the Scæan Gate, and pulled down the
wall that was thereby, and put rollers under the feet of the Horse,
and joined ropes thereto. So, in much joy, they drew it into the city,
youths and maidens singing about it the while, and laying their hands
to the ropes with great gladness. And yet there wanted not signs and
tokens of evil to come. Four times it halted on the threshold of the
gate, and men might have heard a clashing of arms within. Cassandra
also opened her mouth, prophesying evil: but no man heeded her, for
that was ever the doom upon her, not to be believed speaking truth. So
the men of Troy drew the Horse into the city. And that night they kept
a feast to all the Gods with great joy, not knowing that the last day
of the great city had come.
[Illustration: LAOCOÖN.]